Manjhi leaves Grand Alliance ahead of Jharkhand polls

Patna, Nov 8: Bihar's former Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi on Friday announced that his party, Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM), will go it alone in the upcoming Jharkhand Assembly elections and the Bihar Assembly elections next year.

He said, "Despite my several requests, no coordination committee was formed in the grand alliance due to which there was a lack of coordination among the alliance parties. So, we have decided to contest the elections alone."

Addressing a press conference, Manjhi said that this decision was necessary for the existence of the party. The parties in the grand alliance felt that it was only because of them that the grand alliance and the other parties existed.

He clarified that the decision has been taken after consulting the party workers in a couple of meetings -- first on August 9 and the second one on November 9.

"HAM is not going to contest the elections with the help of others. We have decided to contest the elections independently and we will announce the seats and the candidates by November 10," HAM spokesperson Danish Rizwan told IANS.

HAM has authorised Principal Secretary General Santosh Kumar Suman to take the decision related to the Jharkhand Assembly elections.